This Pizza Will Save Your Life (Maybe)

New research -- out of Italy, mind you -- suggests that pizza may be good for our health.

It's true! Several studies show that eating pizza (as part of a well-balanced diet) can have several health benefits, including preventing cancer and heart attacks.

Well, in that case, I better order a pie straight away ...

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One study found that in Italy, pizza is one of the healthiest choices because it does not clog blood vessels as much as other Italian meals can. (This sort of makes sense if you think about the amount of cheese and meat on a pizza compared with, say, a lasagna or a pasta in meat sauce with extra meatballs.)

Two different studies showed a link between eating pizza regularly and a reduced risk of cancer, particularly digestive tract cancer.

Still another showed that regular pizza consumption is a "favorable indicator" for preventing heart attacks.

Unfortunately, for those of us here in the United States, these highly scientific studies only apply to Italian-made pizza (rather than foreign-made pizza). Moreover, the research only pertains to eating pizza intact and not just the ingredients on their own. And, finally, the healthful effects of pizza can only occur if it's the variety that you eat with a knife and fork versus the kind you eat folded up with your hands. (Kidding on that last point.)

Joking aside, these findings may make more sense if we remember that Italians consume a lot of pizza as part of the Mediterranean Diet, which is also though to have several health benefits.

Nevertheless, I would fully support tons of funding being directed to find out if the same applies to pizza here at home.